Tuesday, March 31, 2009

About an hour ago, I was walking down 42nd Street on my way to the train, when a woman in front of me dropped a somewhat official looking piece of paper. She didn't know she'd dropped it, though, so I picked it up and called, "Miss! Miss!" She turned around, I gave her the paper, she thanked me, and took off. Meanwhile, this twenty-something kid wearing glasses, a backpack, and a yarmulke sidles up to me...

HIM: "Hey! Good job!"ME: "Um, thanks!"HIM: "Jewish people call what you did a 'mitzvah'".ME: "Sure, I'm familiar with the term."HIM: "That's your mitzvah for the day!"ME: "Thanks". (Didn't really know what else to say.)HIM: "People think I look like McLovin. Do you know McLovin"?ME: "Sure".HIM: "Check it! Check it! Yeah! Fake ID! Fake ID!" (Imitates the McLovin thing you see at about 2:10 here in same high pitched voice while doing the same little dance.)ME: (speechless)HIM: "Take it easy! Keep up with the mitzvahs!" (Kid smiles and descends into the IND station at Sixth Avenue.)

Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, has signed a law which "legalises" rape, women's groups and the United Nations warn. Critics claim the president helped rush the bill through parliament in a bid to appease Islamic fundamentalists ahead of elections in August.

On March 30, 2005, First Lady Laura Bush visited Afghanistan and spoke at the new Women's Teacher in Training Institute in Kabul. In her address, Mrs. Bush stated that Afghanistan is "only a few years removed from the rule of terrorists, when women were denied education and every basic human right."

Monday, March 30, 2009

This last weekend...and continuing on the middle of this week, around the world various soccer matches are going on between national teams for qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

Sadly, a tragedy occurred in the small western African nation of the Ivory Coast where the stands or a recently renovated stadium were completely filled to see their national team (led by Chelsea star and national hero Didier Drogba, I know it's un-American for me to know these things) played Malawi. The stands collapsed killing at least 22 people, and many of those deaths and undoubtedly many injuries occurred because security had no idea how to handle the pannicked crowd and fired tear-gas into the stands.

Incredibly and tastelessly the game went forward as scheduled -- all while people looked to see if their loved-ones were still alive.

Terrible.

But it's compounded by the rather moronic reporting of it by a blog which reported it, Sports by Brooks, which somehow associates problems in 2010 World Cup host South Africa to what happened in the Ivory Coast. Which is like decrying stadium construction in Winnipeg because of something that happened in Panama.

All but completely unmentioned over the weekend (unless, of course, it was actually completely unmentioned) by Television news was this:

As weeks passed after the capture without significant new confessions, the Bush White House and some at the CIA became convinced that tougher measures had to be tried. The pressure from upper levels of the government was "tremendous," driven in part by the routine of daily meetings in which policymakers would press for updates, one official remembered. "They couldn't stand the idea that there wasn't anything new," the official said. "They'd say, 'You aren't working hard enough.' There was both a disbelief in what he was saying and also a desire for retribution -- a feeling that 'He's going to talk, and if he doesn't talk, we'll do whatever.' "

So Ron Suskind, whose allegations of torture against the palpably insane and low level Al Qaeda laborer Abu Zubaida -- directly overseen at the highest levels by the Bush Administration, was 100% correct.

This charge was dismissed by the White House and politely virtually uncovered by CNN, MSNBC (Olbermann excepted) and, of course, FoxNews, at the time.

And now, of course, no one bothers to cover the past. So the whole thing goes not down the rabbit-hole, but into a place where few people but those who not only read but learn from history care. The country moves on and forgets. Because ignorance is how we roll.

CNN’s “Your Money” segment earlier today featured them reading two paragraphs of Krugman trashing the bank plan and then spent the next five minutes letting wingnut WSJ economist Stephen Moore trash the plan. This is working out well.

It's not that the "left" should just support Obama no matter what, because following around "Dear Leader" is both a sucker's game and what the GOP does.

But don't be naive and think that the set up is like the 1930s and that criticism from the left will necessarily pull the President in that direction, because the media-filter of the modern era doesn't care about such "distinctions", it all becomes one mass contest of critics vs. President. Ironically, the personality cult is reinforced by the media to facilitate it all. It's all about conflict and all conflict is the same. Is that fair, no. Is that how it should be, no. Is that how it is? Sadly, yes. It doesn't help that "the left", despite being responsible for virtually all social and economic progress in this country, has been made synonymous with goofy and frivolous in the broadcast media. While all those folks who want to bomb the brown people until the color bounces are never off the boob tube.

Hell, Pat Buchanan gets to defend Hitler and Germany for WWII and nothing happens, Ward Churchill wasn't even on television and he was drumbeaten into infamy.

The lesson learned via cable television is this. Paul Krugman criticizes Obama and it becomes transformed into Steven Moore's libertarian world of magic ponies, non-fattenting brownies, and lithe pixies with oral-fixations.

I've found that the best use of my Netflix account is to rent documentaries. I'm not the world's biggest movie guy, like them, just don't obsess over them. Same way about music.

And lately, I've been on a David Attenborough jag. Watched all of the Life of Mammals and am now half-way through the Life of Birds. Now anyone who has seen these shows already knows that in the latter, there is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen or heard involving the "Superb Lyre Bird" a native of Australia. But, like I said, I'm a decade behind -- and I know this, not only because this show is about a decade or more old, but this youtube clip has been seen about 3 million times when you add up all the various submissions.

Nevertheless, for those of you who haven't seen it, watch this, it is like nothing you've ever seen or heard -- especially if you are a decade behind the times -- aka living in Iowa.

Kind of sad though that the bird was mimicking chain saws and car alarms -- and indication its patch of forest was getting a lot smaller than it used to be.

Start an illegitimate war based on false evidence that kills hundreds of thousands and cost the nation more than $2 trillion. You are welcome at Notre Dame. No problem.

Carry out campaign promises to allow embryonic research (as opposed to tossing embryos in the trash can) and be in favor of reproductive choice. Well then, we must let K-Lo rule our world.

Once again, I say, when Notre Dame decides it will not recruit that baptist/muslim/buddhist kid from Georgia that runs a 4.35 forty and whose girlfriend just had the abortion, I'll start to worry about their convictions.

Bob Reish, the student body president and a graduating senior, said there is a "general excitement" about Obama's visit, although he is aware there are people on both sides of the issue.

As of 2 p.m. Thursday, The Observer, the student newspaper, had received 612 letters about Obama's appearance -- 313 from alumni and 299 from current students.

Seventy percent of the alumni letters opposed having Obama giving the speech, while 73 percent of student letters supported his appearance. Among the 95 seniors who wrote letters, 97 percent supported the president's invitation.

I wonder what the rate was of several colleges having to endure Bush's botched teleprompterings would have been?

DeSantis has a few major points. They include: 1) I had nothing to do with my boss Joe Cassano's toxic credit default swaps portfolio, and only a handful of people in our unit did; 2) I didn't even know anything about them; 3) I could have left AIG for a better job several times last year; 4) but I didn't, staying out of a sense of duty to my poor, beleaguered firm, only to find out in the end that; 5) I would be betrayed by AIG senior management, who promised we would be rewarded for staying, but then went back on their word when they folded in highly cowardly fashion in the face of an angry and stupid populist mob.

I have a few responses to those points. They are 1) Bullshit; 2) bullshit; 3) bullshit, plus of course; 4) bullshit. Lastly, there is 5) Boo-Fucking-Hoo. You dog.

AIGFP only had 377 employees. Those 400-odd folks received almost $3.5 billion in compensation in the last seven years, a very large part of that money coming from the sale of credit default protection. Doing the math, that averages out to over $9 million of compensation per person.

Ask yourself this question: If your company made that much money, and the boss of the unit made almost $280 million in just a few years, exactly how likely is it that you wouldn't know where that money was coming from?

Matt Taibbi already is on cable news too rarely -- I imagine by about now he's going to be banned.

"Limbaugh's ratings have surged since the White House made him the subject of their derision, which is exactly what the White House wanted. The more Republicans identify with Limbaugh, the better; the more Republicans apologize for Limbaugh, the better... So as Democrats focus on Limbaugh, Cheney and Rove, the result is a twofer; remind independents of why they voted for change and continue to perpetuate the Republican identity crisis."

Well, 68 days behind the Obama Administration and 67 behind us amateur lefty bloggers, but some mainstream media person finally figured it out.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Yep, punctuality in dispensing the daily lie and bullshit talking points was a real talent of the Bush White House press office. And dammit, back in those days Arie, Scottie, Tony or Dana would show up at 1 p.m. on the fuckin' dot and so the Press corps could engage in their then jobs -- as Colbert so rightly stated:

Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the Decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!

Digby brings up what I mentioned to a few friends but didn't blog about yesterday. One of my State's senators, Charles Grassley, has -- after a long career of presenting a picture of Iowa that matches American Gothic -- suddenly developed either Tourette's or a hankering for bad comedy.

But even more disturbing is Grassley has started twittering -- and it's kind of embarrassing -- even by text messaging standards his spelling is atrocious.

Ten days ago, the Irish Prime Minister, Brian Cowen, visited the White House. For some reason, this always seems to occur on March 17th. I guess Ireland can go Cheney themselves the other 364 days, but on St. Patrick's Day it's all good. Anyhow, at his appearance Cowen screwed up at the teleprompter like he was George Bush and then Obama helped him out by intentionally screwing up as a light-hearted joke.

Naturally, this incident was reported on right-wing blogs 180 degrees opposite of reality and Obama becomes "Mr. Teleprompter" -- like the device had been invented on January 20, 2009.

Yesterday, unrequited John McCain apologist Ron Fournier who I imagine considers Obama's use of a teleprompter "arrogant" took up this theme. Now comes Michael Gerson who writes a mealy-mouthed defense of the teleprompter industry with this statement:

It is amazing how swiftly a presidential tendency turns from observation to joke to meme. Barack Obama -- called "the most eloquent political speaker of our time" -- has become known as the teleprompter president.

Yeah, how on earth does stuff like that happen, Mr. Washington Post Editorial Page Columnist?

Hard to believe, but it was the wet t-shirt contest combined with his patented shaking while mocking people with Parkinson's Disease that clinched it for Rush, or as the Dominican hookers know him, El Pene de las Pinzas .

Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and Jim Carrey to star in next year's sure Oscar contender on the rise and fall and rise and fall and rise and fall and rise and fall of the American worker at the abusive hands of Moe-nagement.

There may be hope -- just a hope -- that someday even Republicans will master the "internets" and the "googles":

Researchers at New York University's interactive telecommunications program have come up with a device that allows plants to tell owners when they need water or if they've had too much via the social network blogging service Twitter.

Steny Hoyer inviting Republicans to kiss his ass -- and not in a nice way.

Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the number two Democrat in the House has put out a fairly suggestive flyer hammering Republicans in both bodies for their sudden and hypocritical aversion to passing controversial legislation via budget reconciliation...

And then it names names. Specifically, it calls out such influential Republicans as John Boehner, Judd Gregg, and Charles Grassley, who as recently as three years ago were singing the praises of the reconciliation process as a way to circumvent Democratic filibuster efforts. But now, in an unsurprising twist, they strongly oppose it. Just last week, in a somewhat melodramatic episode, Gregg compared the maneuver to "running over the minority, putting them in cement and throwing them in the Chicago River."

Good for Steny -- of course, the media filter will soon make it seem as if the GOP, those poor naive innocents NEVER EVER EVEN CONSIDERED using this in the past, it's all an invention of those darned power mad Democrats.

It must be very strange to be Michele Bachmann. A woman of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, she can't get anyone to notice. She is like a great stripper or porn star who is ahead of her time, and who unveils one moneyshot after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.

FoxNews -- sharing the same mind as Michelle Bachman, which is something considering what little there is to split between them:

"QUESTION: Good evening, Mr. President. Thank you. Taking this economic debate a bit globally, senior Chinese officials have publicly expressed an interest in an international currency. This is described by Chinese specialists as a sign that they are less confident than they used to be in the value and the reliability of the U.S. dollar. European countries have resisted your calls to spend more on economic stimulus." ...

"QUESTION: Is there a need for a global currency?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I don't believe that there's a need for a global currency."

Newt Gingrich, who specializes in revising history, thinks he can be President. Yes, Newt Gingrich:

Gingrich pioneered a denial of adultery that some observers would later christen "the Newt Defense": Oral sex doesn't count.

So you see, Newt really was a visionary...

Gail Sheehy uncovered a woman, Anne Manning, who had an affair in Washington in 1977 with a married Gingrich.

"We had oral sex," Manning revealed. "He prefers that modus operandi because then he can say, 'I never slept with her.'" She added that Gingrich threatened her: "If you ever tell anybody about this, I'll say you're lying."

And that was with two more marriages...and many more infidelities...a"head" of him.

Now, with his run for the White House ahead of him, Newt plans on starting with a clean slate by becoming a Catholic. First, this takes advantage of the Church's new "easier admission" policies and second, if they whole President thing doesn't work out he can always aim for being Pope.

Beyond the chessboard of the Senate, nearly half of the U.S. electorate calls itself moderate, and more than half of the rest identify themselves as conservative. That means Democrats could capture every liberal vote and half of the moderates and still lose at the polls. Many independents voted for President Obama and the contours of his change agenda, but they will not rubber-stamp it. They are wary of ideological solutions and are overwhelmingly pragmatic. Many of them live in our states and in the states of the other senators who have joined our group.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

March 24 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will tellthe nation tonight the U.S. will recover from the recession“but it will take time, it will take patience.”

The president plans to open his prime-time news conferenceat 8 p.m. in Washington with a statement saying that his effortsto revive the economy have led to “signs of progress,” withhis fiscal 2010 budget set to build on a “stronger foundation”to prevent similar crises in the future.

“It’s a strategy to create jobs, to help responsiblehomeowners, to re-start lending, and to grow our economy overthe long-term,” Obama will say, according to excerpts of hisremarks released by the administration. “And we are beginningto see signs of progress.”

Once ubiquitous on the campaign trail and the New York social circuit, Rudy and Judith Giuliani have been noticeably absent as of late, sending reporters across town chasing a rumor that the two have separated.

I've been too busy with all these "Wood" Anniversary festivities to spend as much time as usual at my favorite sources for unintended comedy. But then again, why wouldn't I on a "wood" anniversary?

K-Lo will not let you down, (except on the "wood" anniversary) the announcement that the President of the United States will give the commencement address at Notre Dame did not sit well with our lady of the mustache:

[Notre Dame] took a giant step away from their identity as "Catholic." They rather be of this world than the one they supposedly exist to bring people toward.

As Instaputz says, this sentence is a crime against grammar, and she's called an "editor".

Banks nationwide hold $41 billion in loans to directors, top executives and other insiders, a portfolio that experts say should be stripped of secrecy.

And when, exactly, did a lot of these insider loans happen?

At Charlotte-based Bank of America, those loans more than doubled last year, to $624.2 million — the biggest dollar jump in the country. The largest of them likely went to three directors or their companies. The surge came during the third quarter as credit markets froze, the government prepared to infuse banks with billions in tax dollars and the board approved the purchase of troubled Merrill Lynch.

Naturally these same "ethical" people are being trusted to get the banking system working again.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

A fraud who thinks she should be President does this with Obama's stimulus package:

The biggest single chunk of money that Palin is turning down is about $170 million for education, including money that would go for programs to help economically disadvantaged and special needs students.

Wow. Finally caught Obama on Leno. This guy's good -- and his wife is a superhero! Okay, so I'm gushing. Who cares? The guy is 100 -- no! -- 1000 times better than the last person to occupy the White House and I'm still rooting for him.

Oh, and after you watch the interview, get a load of the Bobblespeak edition. If your week's been anything like mine, you could use the laughs.

While the American International Group comes under fire from Congress over executive bonuses, it is quietly fighting the federal government for the return of $306 million in tax payments, some related to deals that were conducted through offshore tax havens.

A.I.G. sued the government last month in a bid to force it to return the payments, which stemmed in large part from its use of aggressive tax deals, some involving entities controlled by the company’s financial products unit in the Cayman Islands, Ireland, the Dutch Antilles and other offshore havens.

The A.I.G. executive who was nicknamed “Jackpot Jimmy” by a New York tabloid walked up the driveway toward his bay-windowed house in Fairfield, Conn., on Thursday afternoon. "How do I feel?” said the executive, James Haas, repeating the question he had just been asked. “I feel horrible. This hasbeen a complete invasion of privacy."...

Those bonuses in years past helped make A.I.G. executives into prominent local citizens. They own big houses like Mr. Haas’s, with its three chimneys and its views of Southport Harbor and Long Island Sound in the distance.

May they float upon the salty river of crocodile tears we cry for them.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

In a BookTV interview postponed from February and airing last weekend, author Ann Coulter said that she will probably stop writing books, citing increasing taxes on the rich by the Obama administration.

Of course, her sales have also fallen and there are only so many poses you can make in that fucking disgusting black cocktail dress.

Tim Geithner's cunning plan is to pretend that AIG is Lucy, she just burned the pot roast, and he's Ricky Ricardo swearing in Spanish and barring her from attending tonight's performance at the Tropicana.

"beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

You know, it's hard to even snark about how awful and repellent the Dred Scott decision was. Though I'm not religious, there's a part of me that hopes Roger Taney is roasting in hell over it.

Well, I guess our outrage over being awarded for failure is completely misplaced. And who would know better than members of the former Bush Administration, like Dana Perino who says of those poor people at AIG getting seven figure bonuses they are...

...the people who are working there that are middle-class people, are expecting to get this bonus. If they do not get it, maybe they won’t be motivated enough to try to help the company turn around and getting the company to turn around and be more profitable is important for all of us.

Um, yeah...

And the world's best known tea-bagger, Rick Santelli must be outraged -- but no, this time he's outraged by the outrage.

Yet, sadly, one gets the feeling that Tim Geithner, clearly the Matt Millen of the Obama Administration, is probably sitting in his office squeaking and sweating nervously (one gets the feeling that we all have discovered this is his great talent, a veritable Administrative Don Knotts) that these two know what they're talking about.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

“What do you think of Meghan’s feud with Coulter and Ingraham?” McCain first said, “I’m proud of my daughter and she has a right to her opinions.” When asked if he agrees with his daughter, McCain did not say, simply stating, “like any family we agree on some things and disagree on others”

"Meghan, I'm never going to enter you in any wet t-shirt contests until you drop a few."

After 16 years, Sci Fi Channel is changing its name ... unless you say it aloud.

The NBC Universal-owned cable network will become SyFy starting in June...

The phonics-friendly moniker is part of a network-wide rebranding campaign that has been in the works for more than a year.

I suppose this is the excuse they have for having pro-rassling?

I'm offended. I'm going to watch a show about "Monsters" or "Loggers" on the History Channel, oh I'm sorry "HISTORY" or yet another show about ruining my neighbor's family room on The Learning Channel, oops "TLC".

Being able to find a bigger moron as a conservative columnist than Bill Kristol -- but my goodness, they've done it.

One successful foray ended on the guest bed of a high school friend's parents, with a girl who resembled a chunkier Reese Witherspoon drunkenly masticating my neck and cheeks. It had taken some time to reach this point--"Do most Harvard guys take so long to get what they want?" she had asked, pushing her tongue into my mouth. I wasn't sure what to say, but then I wasn't sure this was what I wanted. My throat was dry from too much vodka, and her breasts, spilling out of pink pajamas, threatened my ability to. I was supposed to be excited, but I was bored and somewhat disgusted with myself, with her, with the whole business... and then whatever residual enthusiasm I felt for the venture dissipated, with shocking speed, as she nibbled at my ear and whispered--"You know, I'm on the pill..."

This is the equivalent of Russ Ross Douhat winning the lottery but turning down the winnings because he's going Galt.

Ross, I'm sorry you could not maintain an erection when you were 20, but becoming a conservative because of it is just pathetic, if not entirely unprecedented.

But the political rights and wrongs of this failed policy are no longer the point. What matters now is that our laws be enforced. The United States is not and never was a fascist state, and the CIA prisons were not and never were the Gulag. These 14 men were not tortured as part of an ordinary and accepted routine, in other words, but according to special rules and procedures, set up at the highest level of government, by people who surely knew that they were illegal; otherwise, they would not have limited them so carefully. What we need now, therefore, is not an endless, politicized circus of a congressional investigation into every aspect of George W. Bush's White House but a carefully targeted legal investigation of the CIA's invisible prisons: who gave the orders to use torture, who carried out the orders, what exactly was done, who objected. The guilty, however senior, should be named, forced to testify and called to account -- because the rule of law, and nothing else, is what makes us exceptional.

The slam on a congressional investigation is drivel -- after all it's the ONLY place that is actually even contemplating investigating these abuses, but otherwise, I'm rather amazed that Applebaum wrote this.

The hunt is on for culprits and scapegoats, and Stewart has served up a cliche: the media. As with the war in Iraq, for which credulous media should take some responsibility, the sins are blown out of proportion.

And Cohen's sins -- especially -- are blown out of proportion, for example, invading Iraq, not because of evidence, but because Colin Powell said so:

Funny, Rush goes to the Dominican Republic to have third-world prostitutes diddle his balloon-knot -- but Cheney goes to the Dominican to get his masturbatory jollies over re-enactments of the assassination of the Mirabel Sisters by Generalissimo Trujillo, Cheney's boyhood crush.(photo from Jesus General)

[W]hy does the South have such dramatically different opinions about Barack Obama from the rest of the country? Seriously. I'm not asking this to pick on the South or because I expect an answer that denigrates southerners. I just want to know, what are the issues that are driving down Obama's approval ratings in the South, when the Northeast is giving him a 87% thumbs-up?

Is there any group that has been more responsible for holding back progress, who has ever been more consistently wrong about everything the last sixty years than Southern Conservatives?

Hell, the whole history of the Republic has seen this bunch of southern-fried right-wing fucks consistently wrong and consistently holding the rest of the nation back. Being defeated, and then starting ALL OVER AGAIN with being fucking wrong about something else. WRONG. ABOUT. EVERY. FUCKING. THING. From holding back the economic development of the early nation, to slavery, to the Civil War, to Jim Crow, to Segregation, to the minimum wage, to maximum hours, to workplace safety, to workers compensation, to food safety, to child labor, to isolationism, to the FDIC, to Social Security, to Red Baiting, to anti-intellectualism, to workplace discrimination, to State's Rights, to the Voting Rights Act, to religious fundementalism, to loving guns more than life itself, to anti-Catholicism, to anti-Semitism, to the War on Terror, to birth control, to not taxing while spending, to homophobia, to making the rubble bounce on brown people, to supporting torture, to police abuse, to outlawing the precious and blessed blowjob between consenting adults, generation after generation, they've been the assholes of the nation.

An investigation discovered assaults had been taking place over the past three months, police said in a press release.

When interviewed by detectives, Caldwell admitted to multiple counts of statutory rape, statutory sex offense and taking indecent liberties with a minor, according to police.

Caldwell was charged with 6 counts of statutory rape of a 14-year-old, three counts of statutory sex offense of a 14-year-old and eight counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor.

And now this guy has been rearrested on other sex charges.

Is this post intended to say all christian conservatives are pedophiles?

Of course not -- but considering they've been tossing out charges against gays for years on broad and false charges of pedophilia by analogy it should be noted that these allegations are NOT isolated to just this guy in that community.

Insurance giant American International Group, which has received $170 billion in funds from the government to stay afloat, will award about $165 million in employee bonuses. The U.S. government has an 80 percent ownership stake in the company. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner had urged AIG’s chief Edward Liddy to renegotiate the payments, but Liddy said he had “grave concerns” about the impact on the firm’s ability to retain talented staff.

I'd say "how talented can your staff be?", but then again, this global ponzi scheme has managed to blackmail the American taxpayer out of $170 billion.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Sorry you've become embroiled in a cat fight with one of the nastiest Republicans in the party. But if you ever find yourself wondering how the world could have produced a soul as ugly as that of your opponent, you need to remember that the Laura Ingrahams of this world learned everything they know about hitting below the belt from none other than your illustrious father.

Funny how just a few weeks ago, NBC News decided to jump in on the Rick Santelli rant and make it the LEAD story on the Nightly News. Then slowly but surely as he became an embarrassment they suddenly forgot who he was and nary a peep was heard.

And then Jim Cramer and the whole CNBC brand was mocked by John Stewart and the next thing you know over the course of a few days Jim Cramer was all over the place belittling this "comedian". He was on Doucheborough and his besweatered Co-Dependent, he was on the Today Show, he was everywhere.

And then Stewart gutted him and everything the network stood for.

And on MSNBC yesterday -- including Olbermann and Maddow, NOT A GODDAMNED PEEP (actually I must have been watching basketball or something while channel flipping because Maddow apparently discussed it).

There's a reason Tweety & Doucheborough never get named Worst Person in the World -- or even contenders.

Cue the symbol of NBC News ladies and gentlemen, the dancing penis and the giant dick.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Professional Golfer Henrik Stenson stripped down at a tournament in where else, Florida. Stenson, who apparently thought he had become "Dr. Manhattan" wanted to avoid getting dirty while playing his ball -- which sounds both sad and painful.

If you click on the picture, you'll see he even had to borrow a tennis player's undies.

But, in the words of Peggy Noonan when she's not lighting a candle for well, several candles actually, and downing wine like Ann Althouse during an American Idol marathon, closing her eyes, laying back, and then softly moaning and "caressing" herself while thinking of Reagan, "LET US SAVOR"*.

I suggest that Jon Stewart be given the power to interview a wide variety of bald men with a lot of explaining to do.

The video link is to the first part of the interview of Jim Cramer, including outtakes. Go to the Daily Show site and see the entire interview, (also enjoy the occasional embedded "Bank of America" ad with a sense of its irony and hypocrisy too -- but especially enjoy part 3 about 6:30 in where Joe Scarborough gets a pithy new nickname).

It would be nice if this leads to the downfall of financial reporting idiocy faster than Ann Coulter's booksales plummet. But I'd bet various and sundry "Money Honeys" it won't.